A former World War Two Naval gun platform in the North Sea - H.M. Fort Roughs (Roughs Tower), now commonly known as Sealand, was to have been the base fo a proposed TV station.

Roughs Tower, designed by Guy Maunsell, was built in 1942 on land, and towed-out into the Thames Estuary in the southern part of the North Sea. Roughs Tower is approximately six miles off the Suffolk coast of Great Britain, above the Rough Sands sand bar. During World War Two it was home for up to three hundred Royal Navy personnel. Sometime after the 1939-1945 war had ended Roughs Tower was abandoned by the British Government.

It was in 1966 that Roy Bates, a former Major in the British Army took possession of Roughs Tower (which was then still in international waters) and in 1967 declared it to be the Principality of Sealand. Prior to occupying Sealand, Roy Bates had been in the Pirate Radio business and before that had been a successful fishing fleet owner.

Sealand Television was to have commenced broadcasting in the autumn of 1987. An email received by Cherished Television from Sealand's Bureau of Internal Affairs states "The TV initiative was proposed by an American consortium which never seemed able to generate much other than discussion and glossy brochures. Scientific and engineering studies finally revealed that the transmission difficulties from our country to the London area were such as to be more costly than the likely profit the TV station might generate and the programme closed in 1988."

 

Fire on Sealand, security guard rescued......

(Picture: Harwich Lifeboat)

Official Sealand site

Sealand News

 

Our grateful thanks to the Principality of Sealand for assistance with the preparation of this feature.